Memorial to Turkish soldiers damaged in Sevastopol

An offensive word has been spray-painted on a road sign pointing the way to the memorial.

SEVASTOPOL/AQ-YAR (QHA) -

A road sign pointing the way to a memorial to Turkish soldiers has been damaged by vandals, reads a message posted on a Facebook page of Ragim Gumbatov, Head of Crimea’s Azerbaijan Diaspora.

“A memorial to Turkish soldiers in Sevastopol, the city I once loved, has been damaged by vandals. An offensive word has been spray-painted on a road sign pointing the way to the memorial erected to commemorate Turkish soldiers fallen in the Crimean War,” writes Gumbatov.

According to Gumbatov, this is not the first time monuments to fallen soldiers in Sevastopol have been desecrated.

“In 2009, a monument to Azerbaijan warriors who were heavily involved in liberation of Nazi-occupied Sevastopol was partially destroyed. A memorial to Turkish soldiers was desecrated in 2014. A monument to Azerbaijan soldiers has been damaged again this May. It is really disgraceful to be waging a war on the dead,” writes the Head of Crimea’s Azerbaijan Diaspora.

The memorial to Turkish soldiers fallen in the Crimean War is located near Sevastopol’s Dokovy Ravine and Kilen-Balka. During the siege of Sevastopol in 1854-1856, Turkish soldiers who died from wounds and diseases were buried near the areas where Turkish troops were stationed.